Method of preparing smoked joint meats



Patented July 10, 1928.

warren stars x T E ARTHUR W. CUSHMA'N, 0F WINNETKA, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR- TO ALLIED PACKERS, INQ,

OI CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

METHOD OF PREPARING SMOKED JOINT MEATS.

No Drawing.

This invention has to do with the preparation of meats, and is particularly concerned with an improved method of preparing smoked joint meats, such as hams, whereby to produce the same in a shape which differs from the natural one in that it is substantially uniform in cross-section throughout the greater portion of its length.

The thought of preparing smoked joint meats in such a highly advantageous way was first advanced in the patent to Hawkinson No. 1,583,648, in which the method disclosed for accomplishing the re-shaping consisted in jacketing the ham or other piece of joint meat in a container under pressure while in a flaccid condition, and then smoking the ham in the container. While such a method is entirely practicable, there are, nevertheless, certain objectionable features incident to the use of the same.

The principal object of the inventlon is to provide a new and improved method by means of which smoked joint meats may be produced as such in a shape which is substantially uniform in cross-section.

Other ob ects and advantages of the invention will be evident to those skilled in the preparation of meats upon a full understanding of the new method as obtained from the following description.

The new method consists in re-shaping the ham or other piece of joint meat while it is in a flaccid or deformable condltion.

but not until after it has been smoked. This may be done by taking the ham, immediately after it has been smoked and while it is still in a hot and plastic condition as a result of the smoking, lacing it in asuitable container under su cient pressure to deform the ham to the desired shape, and permitting the ham to cool while held under pressure in the container. After the ham has fully cooled, the container may be removed, as the meat on the articulated bone structure will have set or hardened during the cooling and will thereafter retain the new shape imparted to it. The container is preferably composed of two semi-cylindrical members which open along one side to receive or d1scharge the ham.

This method has many distinct advantages over the old practice. The containers or baskets in which the hams are re-shaped need be in use only while the hams are cooling, instead of while they are smoking and Application filed January '13, was. Serial No. 81,104.'

cooling, and, as a consequence, the containers may be changed at much more frequent intervals from one batch of hams to the next, thus requiring considerabl less equipment for handling any given ail output. The containers, moreover, 'may e maintamed in a more sanitary condition and are easier to clean for subsequent use, since they are not in place on the hams during the smoking operation, and therefore do not become smoked and coated with creosote. Furthermore, the hams may be handled more conveniently, because they are not encased in the containers while hangi'n in the smoke house, and may be hung accor ing to standard smoke house practice. the hams, or the surfaces of the stockinette coverings oftentimes placed over the same, are not streaked by lack of smoke coloring along the lines where the wires of the containers bear against the surfaces, and accordingly do not require the application thereto of fresh stockinettes after the smoking operation, since the stockinettes which are used during the operation are evenly colored and are not streaked by the subsequent application of the containers. A certain amount of shrinkage occurs in the hams during the smoking operation, and, with the old method, it was necessary to tighten up the containers again on the hams after they were removed from the smoke house for cooling. With the new method this is not necessary, as the containers are not applied until after the hams are smoked, thus materially reducing the labor involved in preparing the hams.

The surfaces of While the new method has been described above in its application particularly to hams, it will of course be understood that other smoked joint meats such as shoulders and picnics may also be treated in a similar way.

I claim:

1. A method of preparin smoked joint meats, which consists in rst smoking a joint, then subjecting it while in a deformable condition to a pressure which is sufficient to change its shape, and then holding the joint under pressure until it has permanently assumed such shape.

2. A method of preparing smoked joint meats, which consists in first smoking a joint, then subjecting it immediately after 7 pressure Which is sufiicient to change its its shape into one which is more nearly unishape, and then permitting it to cool and form in transverse section, and then hold- 10 harden While held in such shape. ing the joint in that shape until it has cooled 3. A method of preparing whole hams, and hardened. which consists in first smoking the ham, then In testimony whereof I have hereunto subjecting it immediately after the smoking ubscribed my name.

operation while still hot to a laterally applied pressure which is sufiicient to change ARTHUR W. CUSHMAN. 

